January Round-Up

January 29, 2021

We hope this blog finds you well, as 2021 continues to be a tough time for lots of people. As we draw to the end of January, we’d like to share some hopeful updates from Positive Money’s campaign for a fairer economy.

We had a big win for our campaign to green the Bank of England this week. As MPs from Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee piled the pressure on the Bank of England to do more to tackle climate change. They sent a letter to Governor Andrew Bailey, that included several of the recommendations we made when we presented evidence to their inquiry last year. Read all the details in our latest blog post and please share to help spread the good news.

Last week, we helped publish a messaging guide for a Wellbeing Economy, building on our Tragedy of Growth report launched last May. To build a strong movement that puts people and planet first and steers the economy in the right direction, we need a common language. This guide aims to do just that. This resource is the result of collaborative workshops and research with partners including the Wellbeing Economy Alliance, New Economy Organisers Network and Public interest Research Centre. Feel free to use and share it!

This month we also finalised our new five-year organisational strategy, which over 1000 Positive Money heroes contributed to last year. You can check out our new vision and mission statements below, and we can’t wait to share the rest of the strategy on our website soon.

After the huge success of our videos in the autumn putting Chancellor Rishi Sunak and the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg straight about how government spending really works, this week we released a new video of Keir Starmer. If you haven’t already, watch it here, and please share to help more people learn the truth.

There are also some exciting plans on the cards coming up…

Next week our Head of Campaigns, Rachel, is speaking at this online event ‘Next Generation Central Banking: Climate Change, Inequality and Financial Instability’. Central banks have proven once again to be the first line of defense in our crisis-ridden times, but how should they use the powerful tools at their disposal? Packed with experts from academia, civil society and financial activism – including Stan Jourdan and Alessia del Vasto from Positive Money Europe too, register for your ticket here.

In March we’ll be releasing a new report, a central bank scorecard, that’ll rank the green policies of central banks around the world. Right now it looks like the Bank of England has big room for improvement. Perhaps a big policy announcement from Rishi Sunak before the Budget could change all that? Keep your eyes peeled for further updates about our virtual launch event and the report itself in a few weeks time. 

Last up, next week our Executive Director Fran, heads off on maternity leave. In the meantime, Paul, our Chief Operating Officer, will step into the Acting Director role. We are excited about the growth and development opportunities both for Paul and all staff within the organisation. To add capacity to the team we are also hiring a new part-time Senior Finance Manager. Check out the job ad here and please share with anyone you know who might be a good fit. 

Many thanks again for your ongoing support, and best wishes from the whole Positive Money team in these challenging times.